Sebastopol, CA--Personal trainers aren't just for the already buff. Under
the guidance of a qualified trainer, even those who don't see themselves
as especially able-bodied will find themselves doing amazing things:
committing to a regular plan of exercise, making steady progress, and
achieving goals that they once thought were unreachable. You stop wasting
your time with inefficient workouts; instead, your personal trainer provides
a custom plan to help you achieve maximum results in minimum time.

So if personal trainers are so great, you're probably thinking, "Why limit
them to the gym?" Why indeed? O'Reilly's new Personal Trainer books can
get you started on your own championship training program right at your
desk, in essential software programs such as Excel 2003, PowerPoint 2003,
and Windows XP.

These friendly, gym-themed guides will tone up the skills of beginners and
seasoned pros alike. The Personal Trainer series utilizes a set of
workouts that reflect the tasks people really want to do--whether they're
as simple as resizing or as complex as integrating multimedia components.
Each workout breaks the task into a series of steps, showing you exactly
what to do to accomplish the task. At the same time, the interactive CD
provides a simulated application where you can practice what you learn in
a completely safe environment; there's no need to worry about permanently
damaging your preferences, losing data, or any of the other things that
can go wrong when you're testing your skills in the unforgiving world of a
real application. And, it's fully interactive, giving you feedback and
guidance as you work through the exercises--just like a real trainer.

The first Personal Trainer books from O'Reilly include:

Excel 2003 Personal Trainer--Beginners and experts alike can become
Excel black belts, quickly and easily--no marathon training exercises
required. You'll master spreadsheet basics, editing and formatting
worksheets, working with formulas, creating charts and graphs, automating
tasks with macros, and working with other programs and the Internet. Then,
when you're ready to push the envelope, you'll move on to advanced topics
like data analysis and pivot tables--and you don't even need a copy of
Excel to learn!

PowerPoint 2003 Personal Trainer--Focus on each of the key PowerPoint
muscle groups as you develop your strength in the basics, editing and
formatting a presentation, drawing and working with graphics, working with
multimedia, using PowerPoint with other programs and the Internet, and
then on to advanced topics. These bite-sized, pain-free workouts will get
your PowerPoint skills pumped in a hurry.

Windows XP Personal Trainer--Tired of being an XP lightweight? Start
with the basics or build on your existing strengths as you master working
with programs, managing files and folders, customizing windows, optimizing
and maintaining your computer, exploring the Internet, using digital
cameras and audio, and networking with Windows XP. You can quickly
navigate to the topics you want to learn, and the hands-on guided
simulations reinforce what you read, to offer a total learning experience.

The new Personal Trainer Series are based on content from CustomGuide, a leading provider of computer training materials.
Founded by instructors who grew dissatisfied with the industry's dry
course materials, CustomGuide offers courseware for instructors and
students, quick references, and software bulletins and e-learning courses
that are fun, flexible, and easy to use.

About O'Reilly

O'Reilly Media spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, and conferences. Since 1978, O'Reilly Media has been a chronicler and catalyst of cutting-edge development, homing in on the technology trends that really matter and spurring their adoption by amplifying "faint signals" from the alpha geeks who are creating the future. An active participant in the technology community, the company has a long history of advocacy, meme-making, and evangelism.